Rising demand for computing resources have driven customers towards increasingly robust computing systems and infrastructures. Understandably, customers are requesting customized hardware and software solutions in order to maximize performance and control costs. In other words, customers won't pay for what they don't need, and vendors have responded accordingly. As merely one example, enterprise-class storage systems may be purchased in a wide array of storage, processing, and networking configurations. Many customers also request systems that are upgradable over time in order to preserve some of the customer's substantial investment. However, both vendors and customers have been forced to carefully balance flexibility against system complexity, which tends to increase support costs and reduce system reliability.
Further complicating the situation, some customers choose to reduce costs by performing their own system installation, maintenance, and support. While this may prove economical, the customer's technicians may not be as familiar with a system as the vendor. This can lead to substantial challenges over the life cycle of the system, particularly during the labor-intensive deployment phase. Vendors are left with the task of providing a system that is tailored to the customer's needs, that can be upgraded as those needs change, and that is straightforward to install and operate. Thus, while conventional techniques for planning, deploying, and managing computing system have proved generally adequate, further improvements are desirable.
In particular, improved planning may allow vendors to better customize their solutions to meet the customer's needs and to integrate seamlessly with a customer's existing infrastructure. Improvements in installation and deployment may reduce the time needed to bring a system on-line, reduce the number of costly support calls, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. When components do fail, better diagnostic and support methods may allow systems to be restored in less time and with fewer misdiagnoses. For these reasons and more, improved planning and deployment techniques benefit both vendors and their customers.